Andy Brown of Kalamazoo, charged in the Oct. 2 murder of David Locey, faced Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Middleton for a preliminary hearing Tuesday in St. Joseph County District Court.

Brown’s attorneys, Michael Hills and James Hills of Hills at Law in Kalamazoo, cross- examined 14 witnesses presented by St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough.

The hearing continued at 8:30 a.m. today.

The task of a preliminary hearing is to determine whether there is enough evidence for the case to earn a trial. Middleton’s task is to determine if there is probable cause that a crime was committed.

McDonough established the crime scene of Oct. 2 with three witnesses. The first, Ramona Metzger, is a St. Joseph County 911 dispatcher who took the call at 7:53 a.m. Oct. 2, from Tammy Brunner, a 17-year employee of David Locey CPA. Brunner found Locey’s body.

The prosecutor played a recording of the 911 call. Metzger questioned a hysterical Brunner, who immediately responded to the question, “Was it self-inflicted?” by saying “No never.” Early in the call, Brunner told Metzger she believed Andy Brown had killed Locey. When a police officer arrived, Metzger allowed Brunner to hang up.

Rich Johnson, the Sturgis police officer who responded to the call, was next on the stand. Johnson said he was at Sturgis High School when the call came, initially reported as “self -inflicted.” Before Johnson was out of the school vicinity Metzger changed it to “possibly not self-inflicted.”

When McDonough asked Johnson how “recent” the shooting was, Hills objected, claiming Johnson is not an expert in determining time of death. However, from his training, Johnson answered that the condition of the blood and splatter indicated it had been recent.

Johnson noted that Brunner had moved some paperwork for early arriving clients from Locey’s draft table to his desk, but he left the papers as placed on the desk and helped Brunner to his squad car.

Brunner told of going to work before 8 a.m. because a client heading for court needed documents and was expected at 8 a.m. She said the employee entrance at the back of the building was unlocked when she arrived.

Brunner said she went to her desk, the restroom, checked the front door, which also was unlocked, before heading into Locey’s office to see if he had the paperwork ready.

“Dave was on the floor,” she said.

When Brunner called his name and got no response, she noticed “a bullet hole in the wall behind Dave,” and “lots of blood pooled around Dave on the right side on the white table.”

Page 2 of 4 - She went to Locey’s desk and dialed 911.

McDonough asked about a situation on Oct. 1, in the office between Locey and Brown. Brunner said that around 1:30 p.m. that day, the office manager, Joy Stevens, Locey, Brown and Brown’s wife, Heather, met in the conference room.

Later in the afternoon, Heather came out of the meeting first. From her desk, Brunner could see Heather get into the car with her mother-in-law, Teresa Brown and said she heard tires squeal as they drove away.

Following the meeting, Locey directed Brunner to take Brown’s laptop to a computer company to retrieve information. She did so and returned to the office.

When asked if she heard yelling from the conference room, Brunner said no.

A fourth witness, Paul Gonyeau, with the technical services unit of Michigan State Police, was on the stand longer than the previous witnesses. He had examined video surveillance during 6-9 a.m. from the BP Snappy Food Mart, 1159 N Nottawa St., south of Locey’s office It captured Locey in the mart from 7:10 to 7:12 a.m. Oct. 2. Gonyeau also described his tracking of two cell phones, one that is believed to be used by Brown. The tracking went from 6:57 a.m. to 7:57 a.m. From 7:07 a.m. to 7:25 a.m. it records that it likely stayed in a limited location. From 7:25 to 7:57 a.m. “the device location has physically changed,” Gonyeau said.

Donald Berry, a service technician for ADT Security, the system used at Locey’s office, was next on the stand. Records he pulled from the device showed which employees were recorded as “arming” the system when they left the building and which “disarmed” it upon arrival from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2.

Next, McDonough called witnesses to further establish Brown’s whereabouts during the time his cell phone information was on the move. David Munn, owner of David Munn Custom Builder, and an employee, Thomas Carpenter, were building a three-season room on Brown’s parents’ home on Oct. 2. Both testified seeing Brown shortly after they arrived on the job about 7:20 a.m. and that he left again soon after. Neither spoke to Brown that morning.

Richard “Skeet” Bowersox told of returning a tool he had borrowed from Jim Brown at his business on Chicago Road in Sturgis,

Bowersox said he was there between 7:45 and 7:50 a.m. and Andy Brown was present. Bowersox said he greeted Andy Brown and shook his hand then quickly concluded his errands and left for his own business.

“I was gone before (Brown) left,” Bowersox said.

Following a lunch break, McDonough began calling witnesses, most of whom Brown had rendered accounting services.

Page 3 of 4 - Lee Younkman of Coldwater said he had been a client and a friend of Brown. McDonough asked Younkman if he noticed “odd behavior” in Brown recently.

Younkman said the IRS “showed up a few times” and about a week before Locey’s death, Brown had asked about the procedure for buying bullets and if they could be tracked to him. When Younkman asked why he wanted to know, Brown responded that he was asking for his brother. Younkman said he told Brown he’d have to show his driver’s licence for a purchase.

Joy Stevens, Locey’s office manager or 30 years and business partner, answered questions about the ADT surveillance information which recorded that “user No. 11” — the number assigned to Brown — was recorded as having disarmed the security system at 2:14 a.m. Oct. 2. At 7:13 a.m. “user No. 40” — Locey’s number — disarmed the system.

She said Locey received a letter from a Grand Rapids attorney concerning pressing charges on behalf of VIP Auto Body Shop in Coldwater. The letter prompted a meeting on Oct. 1 between Locey, Stevens, Brown and his wife, she said.

“It was kind of a rough meeting,” Stevens said.

Locey apologized to Heather for the information she would hear in the meeting about her husband, Stevens said.

It was an emotional meeting for Locey and for Brown who both “cried” a little, she said.

“(Brown) admitted he had taken a few checks from some of our clients,” Stevens said.

They discussed Brown’s future employment, but Locey was hesitant to fire Brown, she said — he was waiting for more evidence.

The next three witnesses were from VIP Auto Body Shop, accounting clients of Brown. Each answered questions about concealed weapons licenses and weapons sometimes carried or kept in the shop.

Gaytha Elkins, wife of owner Scott Elkins, is employed elsewhere, but recently became involved in the bookkeeping when several notices from the IRS came to the shop. The total in unpaid taxes was $237,000, she said. Her husband had essentially turned over the financial end of the business to Brown in 2011, she said. Prior to Brown’s services, no taxes had gone unpaid.

Owner Scott Elkins said that when he bought the business in 2007, the company had $250,000 in sales but had grown to $1.5 million. “I gave (Brown) full access,” Scott said.

IRS notices had been coming for a while, Scott said, but with each, Brown had offered a plausible reason. When notices became more threatening, his relationship with Brown changed, he said.

In the week prior to Locey’s death, Brown went to V.I.P. three days. On the third day, the Friday prior to the shooting, Scott said he was trying to avoid Brown.

Page 4 of 4 - On Oct. 2, when Scott heard of Locey’s death, he told his brother William “Ed” Elkins, the shop manager. When Scott was headed out of town to talk to detectives, Ed flagged down Scott to say a gun he’d left in his desk was missing. Ed immediately reported the missing weapon.

The gun was a “Colt 38 police special” that Ed had inherited from his father-in-law’s estate in 2009. Ed said he didn’t shoot the gun often because ammunition was expensive.

On Oct. 2, both Scott and Ed were in businesses meetings in Coldwater from about 7-8:30 a.m.

Russell Karsten, a Michigan State Police firearms expert , was the final witness of the day. Karsten was initially sent three pieces of bullet evidence. Two were whole bullets, “fully jacketed,” he said. One item was an “outer metal jacket” from which the “core had separated.” He was later sent a fourth piece of evidence. Karsten offered a list of possible firearms from which the bullets could have been fired. A Colt 38 special was one of the options.